Registration of Equity Eligible Persons

All entities participating Illinois Shines, Indexed REC Procurements, or that have chosen to meet the MES as their workforce requirement in ILSFA, are required to meet the Minimum Equity Standard through registering EEPs in their workforce. For Program/Delivery Year 2026-2027, the MES percentage is 14% for Shines and ILSFA, and for Indexed REC projects, it is dependent on the seller contract. 

As your organization hires and/or works with Equity Eligible Persons (EEPs) during the program/delivery year, please keep in mind that the Agency will require data for these individuals during MES reporting at the end of the year through the MES Combined Compliance and Year-End Report. The Agency verifies EEP eligibility as part of the review process for this report. Entities have two options for providing this data.

EEP Registration Through the Energy Workforce Equity Portal    

• The entity can either encourage all EEPs in their project workforce to register in IPA’s Energy Workforce Equity Portal, or register for them on their behalf: https://energyequity.illinois.gov/ 
• This option allows the entity to simply provide the names of the registered EEPs in its MES Year-End Report.
• To register EEPs on their behalf through the Equity Portal, entities must have each EEP-eligible individual fill out and sign an attestation form: https://energyequity.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/energyequity/documents/eep-attestation-formv2.pdf

EEP Manual Registration Through Combined MES Compliance Plan and Year-End Report Process

• For this option, the entity can collect signed EEP attestations and provide any required documentation for their EEPs through the Year-End Report portion of the Combined MES Compliance and Year-End Report. The EEP attestation can be downloaded here: https://energyequity.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/energyequity/documents/eep-attestation-formv2.pdf
• This option requires that the entity collect required supplemental documentation for EEPs who qualify based on graduation from a participating workforce training program, or whose primary residence is located in an Equity Investment Eligible Community. Acceptable documentation is described below. All personally identifying information and private information will be held confidential.

1. For EEPs who qualify based on graduation or current participation in a qualifying workforce training program, please provide either an acceptance letter from the training provider (for current participants), or a certificate of completion from the training provider (for graduates). 

    

   For EEPs who qualify based on primary residence, please provide the individual’s driver’s license, state ID, utility bill, lease, or mortgage agreement for the Agency to verify the individual’s eligibility

The IPA Act defines “equity eligible contractor” (“EEC”) as “a business that is majority-owned by eligible persons, or a nonprofit or cooperative that is majority-governed by eligible persons, or is a natural person that is an eligible person offering personal services as an independent contractor.”

At least 14% of the Project Workforce in each applicable delivery year shall be Equity Eligible Persons or Equity Eligible Contractors, as these terms are defined in the Indexed REC Contract. The MES applies for each delivery year in which Construction Activities are carried out through the Date of First Operation, or if the Project is a Modernized or Retooled Hydropower Project through the Hydropower Refurbishment Completion Date.

For more information on MES requirements for utility scale renewable energy procurements, please visit the Indexed Wind, Solar, Brownfield, and Hydropower of the procurement website and the Utility-Scale Projects of the IPA website.

Resources:

• Utility Scale MES Waiver Form
• Utility Scale MES Mid-Year Report (Illustrative)
• Utility Scale MES Combined Report (Illustrative)

Each Program Year in Illinois Shines, the project  workforce* of each participating Approved Vendor and Designee must meet a required minimum percentage of Equity Eligible Persons (EEPs), with this required percentage increasing to 30% by 2030. Compliance with the Minimum Equity Standard is demonstrated and reported by Program participants through the MES Combined Compliance and Year-End Report. Future Program Years’ percentages are determined by the IPA and presented through updates to the Long-Term Plan.

For information on MES requirements for projects participating in Illinois Shines, visit the Minimum Equity Standard page of the program website.

Illinois Solar for All requires that Approved Vendors meet workforce requirements across their portfolio of projects, and pay the applicable prevailing wage rate to workers employed on certain ILSFA projects. Public Act 104-0458, known as the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act (CRGA), added language that amends workforce requirements for the Program by providing ILSFA Approved Vendors the option to either comply with the Minimum Equity Standard (MES) or the existing ILSFA job training requirements, starting in Program Year 2026-27. 

At the start of each Program Year, Approved Vendors are required to identify which workforce requirement they will comply with, either job training or MES; any change to this designation may only be made at the beginning of a new Program Year when filling out the MES Combined Compliance and Year-End Report. All Approved Vendors should fill out and submit the first portion of the Combined MES Compliance and Year-End Report, which confirms their selected workforce track for the Program Year. 

For more information, visit the Illinois Solar for All page.  

Resources: 

• ILSFA MES FAQ Guide
• ILSFA MES Waiver Form
• ILSFA MES Combined Report (Illustrative)
• ILSFA Equity Eligible Person Attestation